It’s a multiplayer riot, a visual landmark, a feat of engineering, and one of the most charming games ever made. But even those accolades are dwarfed by its scope, its potential, and the apparent endlessness of them both. Not since the early days of PlayStation has that troubled brand stood for – and fostered – such a daring, transcendent, magnificent piece of work.

GamesRadar Review
10/10

Official Playstation Magazine UK10/10

There simply isn't anything else like LBP on any system, anywhere. It's a beautifully elegant and powerful creative tool that puts unlimited potential in the palm of your hand.

Gameplayer10/10

LittleBigPlanet is like a magic trick, and in that respect it feels less like a videogame than an incredible concept executed perfectly. LittleBigPlanet is like LEGO (the blocks, not the game), it’s like Monopoly, it’s timeless... it’s lightning in a bottle – and if Sony play their cards right it could well save the PS3, and propel the console into the stratosphere.

GamePro5/5

There's really nothing I can say other than this: if you own a PS3 and you don't buy LittleBigPlanet, you are robbing yourself of one of the most unique gaming experiences ever designed.

IGN UK9.7

It’s a celebration of inspiration and human interaction and a hugely welcome, utterly invigorating experience among usual roster of nihilistic shooters jostling for shelf space this Christmas.

Computer and Video Games9.6

You'll look for inspiration for levels, mechanical dilemmas or puzzles in every corner of your life. And in your sleep. It will take over your conversations with fellow players. You will become obsessed. You have been warned.

Meristation9.5

Little Big Planet is revolutionary thanks to its flexible, fun and powerful editor. Creating a quality level takes time but the feeling of achievement is overwhelming. A must for everyone who loves creativity or likes to explore what the creativity of a passionate community can produce.

IGN9.5

Media Molecule has created a brilliant platformer, and then given you the tools to recreate the whole thing over again, or better yet, to create your own ideas from scratch. It's not perfect - the controls could be tighter, automatically shifting between planes can be problematic, the editor isn't quite as robust as you might hope - but what's there is nothing short of astounding.

Play.tm93%

LittleBigPlanet is one of the most inviting game world's ever imagined, the concept is a masterstroke, the implementation slick.

IGN AU9.2

Where LittleBigPlanet stands out is in the genuinely amazing integration of deep, deep content creation tools and incredible variety of objects with a community mode that truly makes content exchange and rating not just easy, but practical and even essential.

EuroGamer9/10

We're just happy to see a flagship game for a modern system that's about running from left to right and jumping over things. New ideas are great, great old ideas are better, and LittleBigPlanet has both: it's the future and the past of videogames, rolled into one.

VideoGamer.com9/10

LittleBigPlanet may well save the PS3 (if it indeed needs saving), it may be the most creative game of all time, it could well usher in a new era of user-generated gaming, and has a chance of bringing about a 2D platforming renaissance, but all those things are down to you. The game Media Molecule has created won't do these things alone, but if gamers create the levels we think they're capable of, we might be looking at one of the most important games this console generation has seen.

Kikizo9/10

A quantum leap in concept and design, and one which falls inches - nay, millimetres - short of a perfect score. There's no better reason to own a PlayStation 3.

The Guardian
N/A

Charming and guaranteed to make you smile, LittleBigPlanet is the best argument yet to buy a PS3.

BBC
N/A

LBP is unquestionably one of the best titles of this year, or any year. Media Molecule should be praised for delivering on virtally every promise they have made over the last 18 months.

It is a terrific platform game, with an abundance of creativity, fun and character. It's up there with some of the best platform titles ever made, include Super Mario Galaxy and Super Mario 64.

[IMG]http://i32.************/2yujeao.jpg[/IMG]BREAKING NEWS UPDATE :D

LittleBigPlanet Release Update

During the review process prior to the release of LittleBigPlanet, it has been brought to our attention that one of the background music tracks licensed from a record label for use in the game contains two expressions that can be found in the Qur’an. We have taken immediate action to rectify this and we sincerely apologize for any offense that this may have caused.http://blog.us.playstation.com/2008/...elease-update/

We will begin shipping LittleBigPlanet to retail in North America the week of October 27th. Sorry for the delay, and rest assured, we are doing everything we can to get LittleBigPlanet to you as soon as possible. We’ll report back as soon as we have another update.

SCEE has supplied us with the official statement on the situation regarding LittleBigPlanet…

During the review process prior to the release of LittleBigPlanet, it has been brought to our attention that one of the background music tracks licensed from a record label for use in the game contains two expressions that can be found in the Qur’an. We have taken immediate action to rectify this and we sincerely apologise for any offence that this may have caused.

We will confirm the new launch date shortly.

We’ll keep you updated with further information as soon as we get it.

We’ve just been informed by SCEE that the delay to release is effective worldwide.

If you wish to view it ahead of release, a PDF of the manual is available here.

Core Premise

Creative Gameplay. Multiplayer 2D side-scrolling platform/action/adventure/puzzle game carved in a craft-world aesthetic. 1-4 players locally or online or any combination in between. 50+ levels designed by Media Molecule for 'LittleBigStory'.

Controls

You control Sackboy. Sackboy is a burlap-skinned, button-eyed avatar that's both the star of game, and a game designer himself.

Though LittleBigPlanet is a 2D game, there are multiple depth layers in the world. 3 such layers can be navigated by Sackboy. Several other layers can be used for purely decorative purposes. Sackboy can move between layers by pushing up and down on the left stick to push in and out of the screen.

The 'Big'

LittleBigPlanet is not only a wonderful-looking standalone game. It is also a simple, but powerful creative tool and platform, aimed at providing an optimum tradeoff between accessibility and creative flexibility.

A tap of the square button reveals Popit - half thought-bubble, half kite, with which Sackboy can manipulate and design the world around him. He can place objects, resize them, reorientate them, reshape them, paint them, stamp them with stickers, design costumes and more. He can start with existing premade objects, or create new ones from scratch from fundamental shapes and building blocks. Dynamic behaviour and logic are added to objects via connectors and switches (see below for more).

Players can share their creations - whatever they may be - with the rest of the userbase via a system heavily influenced by 'Web 2.0' creative communities such as YouTube and Flickr. Players will be able to play with each others creations, 'heart' them if they like them, tag them, flag them for moderation if inappropriate and so on. Players will also be able to take and share in-game screenshots, that will automatically be tagged with players present in the shots. Media Molecule has talked about making these screenshots viewable online via a website, and shareable with RSS feeds. A reward system will highlight players' strengths in the areas of playing, creating and sharing, along with Trophy support. Media Molecule views LittleBigPlanet's release as just the beginning of a long-lived platform for user creativity, and they plan to fully support it and add to it based on community feedback.

The range of options in terms of what to create are entirely left to the player to choose. Some players may simply make new stickers, some might tinker with machines and contraptions, others with mini-games or whole levels and games. Some may indeed not make anything game related at all, and use LittleBigPlanet as a kind of physical website or space.

Popit

[IMG]http://i25.************/2zzq39s.jpg[/IMG]

Popit is the menu system Sackboy uses to create things. There are two versions - a full version for the game's Create mode, and a more limited version for Play mode. In Play mode you can only customise your character and use stickers and decorations - this to avoid players using the more extensive editing and create tools to cheat in levels :)

To give you an idea of creative possibilities, the latest version of Popit includes the following building blocks to play with. The list is by no means exhaustive. Everything you use is mapped to physical objects in the world to aid with understanding and accessibility.

Materials

In your Goodie Bag is a section for Materials. A variety of materials to build with, from cardboard, to stone, to glass, to metal etc. You carve your materials using a range or provided shapes (such as circle, square, triangle, heart, cross, arrow etc.), a long with a cutting tool for deleting from your material.

Different materials have different physical properties. Some might be heavy, for example, and require multiple Sackboys to move. Materials can be glued to surfaces to prevent movement, or can use a special 'Dark Matter' material to hover. They can also have other properties applied to them (see Functions).

From the latest build, Quaz51 counts 137 different types of material, each with 20 shapes for modeling.

Stickers & Decorations

A plethora of images and decorative items to stick on object surfaces. This category also includes functionality to capture images from the Playstation Eye and embed them as stickers in your creations.

Costume Pieces

A wide variety of bits and bobs to attach to every part of your Sackboy, from hats to glasses to teeth to wigs and so on. In the latest videos there is mention of over 500 different costume pieces.

Backgrounds

Players can swap in and out different backgrounds, e.g. garden, street-scene and so on. Players can also adjust things like lighting and fog.

Connectors

String
Elastic
Spring
Piston
Motorised Bolt
Bolt
Rod
Winch
..

Explosives

Do what they say on the tin. Some materials are destructable.

Switches

Button - simple switch, press to activate
Two-way - a two position switch (e.g. a light switch)
Three-way - as two-way, but with a central position it springs back to when not in use (i.e. a lever)
Magnetic - a pair of switches, which act as lock and key. When brought together, it activates. Pairs are colour coded, you have to bring the right corresponding key to the switch to activate
Sticker - a switch which activates when stickers defined by you are applied to a surface
Proximity - a switch with customisable range that activates when Sackboy is within range
Grab - a switch that activates when grabbed

Switches are linked to the objects they are intended to activate by wires, which disappear when you switch from edit to play mode.

Functions

Fire - puts a material on fire. Fire doesn't spread from material to material, if you were wondering. Will singe a Sackboy..if in contact for too long will kill him.
Electricity - electrifies a material, electrocuting any wayward Sackboy
Ice - turns material to ice. With prolonged exposure can freeze and kill Sackboy.
Gas - turns material to poisonous gas
Dissolve - makes a material dissolve after a defined period.

Gameplay Kits

These include objects for defining the beginning of a level, the end of a level, start and end points for races, end-of-level leaderboards, respawn points and so forth.9

Audio Speakers

Want audio in your level? Then just add some speakers. Speakers can emit provided music or sound effects. They can be tied to switches to activate only under certain conditions. Multiple speakers can be used, each emitting a different part of a piece of music, allowing the player to control instruments used in the piece, for example.

Quaz51 has provided this snapshot of the Music Settings menu in the Popit, from the latest build:
[IMG]http://i33.************/2j177yh.jpg[/IMG]

It shows 22 songs, 8 pieces of interactive music (editable as described above), and 9 sound effects or type of sound effect.

Text Bubbles

You can pop up notes to players, or have NPCs 'talk' using text bubbles to which you can add..text.

Object System

When you create an object, you can package it up as a template to share with other users. You could embed the object in your level as a reward for players. This system scales from stickers to individual objects to whole levels. The idea here is to help people create things without having to reinvent the wheel. Some people might become well known for their vehicle mechanisms, for example, that others can take and build upon rather than starting themselves from scratch. A whole range of commonly useful mechanisms and contraptions are likely to spread throughout the community like this. Your Popit has a swag bag for storing all the stuff you collect.

Tweak Tool

This tool can be applied to a variety of things to give more detailed control over the properties of an object. For example, when applied to a motor-bolt it gives you options to adjust speed, strength, direction. Or when applied to rope, it allows you to adjust elasticisty, minimum and maximum length, strength (rope can break) and so forth.

Misc

Some things worth noting that don't neatly fit in to the above:

Spawning objects. It seems there is a way to set up an emitter for objects, including some level of randomisation. Videos have shown explosive bullets being spawned from 'cannons' in one level, and apparently random platforms spawning to create a path in another level.

Various other objects are available for use via Popit that fall under various categories, including cogs, wheels, rockets, helium baloons and lots more.

Yes. When you create a level you are given a key for that level. You could embed it at the end of another level so that players who finish your level can then access the next. This system could also be used to make a hub for different levels, for example for a collection of levels in one 'game' or as a aggregator for levels you like etc.

Can Sackboy die?

Yes. Dangerous materials, like fire and electricity can kill Sackboy. Sackboy can also be squashed, or killed by other objects such as spikes. Sackboy will respawn at the nearest respawn point, which will count down remaining lives. When Sackboy is on his last life, the respawn point will flash red. If you die then, you'll have to start the level from scratch. In their own levels, players will be able to place respawn points where they wish and control number of spawns to manipulate difficulty.

What happens if someone puts penises in their levels? (And other nasties)

When published, a level is available immediately. However, if but one person flags a level as inappropriate it is temporarily taken offline while it is checked by moderators at Sony who have tools to do a quick scan of level elements.

Is there a limit to how many levels I can publish?

Yes. Each user will have limited server space. 'Really good' creators can be rewarded with more space.

Are there enemies?

Yes. MediaMolecule has revealed A.I. brains, a mechanism for imbuing objects with behaviour and the capacity to die. When Sackboy captures an enemy's brain, it dies. Examples of brains mentioned so far include a simple patrolling enemy brain, and a multi-brain enemy that requires all brains to be captured before the enemy dies. The game will ship with several types of brain, and of course, more will be added over time. Between brains and the other components available, some very sophisticated enemies and boss type enemies are possible.

Can I embed my own music in my levels?

Currently no. You can however manipulate provided audio. Music and sound effects are output via speakers you place in your level. You can control which speakers emit which instruments, have music kick in at certain points and so on.

Can I use my own pictures from my hard drive?

Currently no. The only confirmed way to get your own images into LBP is via Playstation Eye.

Can't I cheat my way through levels by using Popit?

No. It seems in play mode that the Popit is restricted to things like Stickers. You can't start modifying the level to make it easier for you or whatnot. There's been mention that a level creator can designate areas in their level where a player is allowed free use of Popit.

Will I be able to get a Sackboy plushie?

Yes. Sony has said there will be LBP merchandise. Update - See the Latest News section below for some new details.

Can you copy a level to a Memory Stick or USB drive and share it with a friend or copy it to a PC for upload to the Internet?

Currently no, but maybe down the line.

Can everyone on one PS3 log into their own PSN account profiles? And if so will everyone get trophies?

Yes and Yes

Can users make their own videos to embed into levels, like with the game's tutorial videos?

Another PS3 exclusive with a helluva nice OP, reminds me of the MGS one a few months back... well, I'll definitely be buying LBP, even if the controls and plane-shifting weren't too my liking, and it's doubtful I have the dedication to design some of my own levels.

Btw I just checked the FAQ and I have a weird question about publishing levels since I never managed to publish my level. Can you make a level that will not be published to everyone but you can share only with your PSN friends to avoid censorship?

Also I'm pretty sure that this one is the Japanese Cover
[IMG]http://i36.************/6idwma.jpg[/IMG]

Does anyone have a hi-res version of this? Its by far my favourite cover.

Originally Posted by andydumi

Cool thread. Are we getting a separate GAF creation thread?

I certainly think that will be the way to do it. This topic for general impressions and information, the other purely to highlight GAF and Extra Special levels. Otherwise it would be far too cluttered. I might work on a header and template for it now..

I certainly think that will be the way to do it. This topic for general impressions and information, the other purely to highlight GAF and Extra Special levels. Otherwise it would be far too cluttered. I might work on a header and template for it now..

We could also link it here so that all the people who will inevitably ask "how do you build a..." can be redirected there.